


To Stand

by bleakstudent



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Gen, M/M, au where it's dancesport for some reason (the reason is because i am a fool), i wrote this last summer lol it's not great, in fact it's pretty stupid but i had to get my Love For Dancesport out somehow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 07:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15310803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bleakstudent/pseuds/bleakstudent
Summary: And Victor cannot take his eyes off that man, who he was sure was going to fail. He and his partner appear larger than life on the dance floor, not necessarily dancing delicately, but dancing with fervor—and Victor is enthralled. 'I want to dance with him,' he thought.Alternatively, the Yuri!!! On Ice dancesport AU that no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is an abandoned work i found on my laptop and was like... hey let's post this lol

It’s not like Victor meant to stop loving dance—at some point, it just became something that he did instead of loved, like going through the motions but even that not quite. _Ballroom dancing has simply lost its appeal_ , he mused during the final of the Professional Ballroom World Open Championship. As a gay man, embracing a woman intimately close never allured him, and he had no rivals on the floor. He led, and Mila followed in an intricate dance of precision and technicality. He was a good leader (he knew that at least), she was a beautiful follow, and they rarely miss a mark. He finished the quickstep smiling, lost in thought. _Maybe it’s time for me to retire._

The sharp cry of “Victor? Victor! Victor Nikiforov!” snapped him to his senses.

“Mila,” he grinned weakly, looking down at his partner of ten years. Mila Babicheva was a wonderful follow, if not a bit rebellious and willful. Somedays Victor thinks she may be better suited for the wild sambas and cha-cha-chas of Latin dance, but Mila has always been perfectly civil with him, always supporting him in his flights of fancy during any waltz or tango. Mila really was too good for him. 

“Victor, are you doing alright? You were a bit spacey out on the floor.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking about a lot of things recently.”

“What, are you finally letting those rumors become true?”

“I might be retiring, Mila. This may have been my final competitive dance.”

“You asshole. You could have at least told me; we could’ve done—fuck, I don’t know—a special move or something, and now you’re retiring?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought we were partners.”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you trusted me.”

“I do.”

“That’s the voice of a liar, Victor Nikiforov.”


	2. Chapter 2

Yuuri Katsuki was really no one special—really. Just any other professional Latin dancer—really!—even though that statement was what Yuuko called “extremely self-deprecating and enormously paradoxical.”

“Oh, Yuuri! Did you see that hover just now? I just love her dress so much, look at the way it moves with her—oh my God, Victor and Mila are just so perfect! Yuuri, _my goodness_ —“

“I saw, Yuuko! What was that jump just now; that was ridiculous—what is he thinking—“

“They’re stealing the floor! No one else has a chance!” Yuuko proudly exclaimed. 

“Their partnership really is something else,” Yuuri said wistfully.

Victor Nikiforov was very much an idol of Yuuri’s. He wasn’t the one who brought Yuuri into the sport (that was one Yuuko Nishigori, who was as persistent at eight as she was at twenty-five), but watching Victor dance the Viennese waltz and foxtrot and quickstep with Mila all those years ago was something that he could never forget. That was the day that Yuuri resolved that he would dance all ten dances of both standard and Latin and participate in dancesport not just as a Latin dancer, but as a ten dancer. 

He’s always known that he could never compete with Victor’s technical prowess or even with Yuri Plisetsky’s fiery temperament. That was a near impossibility for Yuuri, a timid lead from the sleepy town of Hasetsu, Japan. He’s always humorlessly laughed off his skill at interviews—“Mr. Katsuki, you’re the hope for the future of dancesport in Japan!”—because he knew, and he was sure that everyone else knew, that Yuuri Katsuki could not compete on an international scale with any sense of competence. After all, Yuuri Katsuki was just another average professional Latin dancer.


	3. Chapter 3

“And in first, the fifth time World Champions . . . pair 196, the Nikiforov-Babicheva pair of Russia! Congratulations!”

Going up to accept his medal, Victor tugged at his bleached shirt collar and flashed his usual fake, photogenic smile to the crowd and to the cameras. Mila was half of her usual snide, energetic self. As they stood there on the podium together, Victor pondered his life and career. Since the beginning, dance was all he had; it had been pushed on him since the tender age of five, and he always believed that his mother started him on dance lessons to spend less time with him. He couldn’t blame his mother for her actions because it was strikingly and disgustingly similar to what he predicted he would do with any child of his own. 

To everyone else, it seemed that he lived a perfect life: rich, popular, famous. Somewhere in among all of those, he lost himself—he lost his life and his love. Those were what defined the human experience, and Victor, in an ambling show of prideful professionalism, lost them both. He was a shell for the Russian nation’s hopes and dreams in this niche, unpopular sport. He was a world champion and a national hero, but at what cost? He had to sacrifice so much; even if he retired now, he had no skill other than dance, and he was absolutely certain that no sensible company would ever hire him as a salaryman. Victor was stuck at the peak of ballroom dance, held in place by tangled strings of waltzing music, a mere puppet of societal conventions and dignity. Dance taught him how to stand, but he could no longer breathe.

Mila was silent through the entire ceremony, instead preferring to focus her eyes on the floor. Victor himself said nothing as the proceedings went on. 

“Victor,” she started tentatively as they walked together down the podium. “Are you really human?”

He didn’t have the courage to tell her that he had been thinking the same thing for the past year.


	4. Chapter 4

“He’s retiring” were the first words Yuuko says to him when she barged into Minako’s studio in the late evening the day after the World Championships.

“What do you mean he’s retiring? He can’t retire; he’s done so much; he hasn’t done so much, and he’s not even that old! How can he just retire?” Yuuri rambled. “He _can’t_ ; I haven’t danced on the same floor as him yet—it’s too soon; I didn’t account for this; Yuuko, don’t just stand there! Help—there has to be a way to convince him to _not_ retire, like maybe I could send him an email or something—Yuuko, please!”

“Yuuri, have you ever considered how borderline creepy your infatuation with Victor is? I didn’t even give you a name for heaven’s sake!”

“But it _was_ him, and if he’s retiring, my _strictly professional interest_ in him isn’t even the main issue! He’s going to _leave_! How will I dance—don’t look at me like that, Yuuko, he’s been the driving force behind my passion for so long; I don’t think I can go out on the floor at all without someone to look up to—“

“Yuuri Katsuki! Stop that right this instant. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Think about all the people in Japan who look up to _your_ dancing! How would you want them to feel if you retired?”

“I mean, it’s not like anyone in Japan would miss me if I retired.”

“Okay, fine. How would you want _me_ to feel?”

Yuuri looked down. “I would want you to be happy.”

“That’s a start. So how do you think Victor wants his fans to feel?”

“But he doesn’t even know me, and I’ve known you for years. This really isn’t a good comparison.”

“Look past that for now, Yuuri! The point I’m trying to make is that he probably wants all of his fans to continue to enjoy dancesport even without him in it.”

“Ah,” Yuuri commented sagely.

Yuuko sighed. “Yuuri, listen. You’re a really great dancer and a fantastic leader. I just want you to see that. You don’t need to chase after Victor’s shadow. You need to stand on your own.”

_But I can’t_ , Yuuri thinks to himself quietly. _I can’t._


	5. Chapter 5

Somehow, Victor finds himself lost at the Professional Latin World Open Championship—Yakov’s fault. He got tired of Victor moping around at the studio all the time and told him to “go watch that flamboyant, lascivious Latin dance” and that “maybe that garbage will spirit you once more,” to which Yuri added a jabbing “just retire already, old man.” It was the same city that his own world open was in, but he can’t help but think that Latin dance was just so different from the proper harshness of standard. _Oh my God_ , he screamed internally. _Is it ok for them to be wearing so little fabric? That can’t be decent, especially for the women; although I can’t say that I_ disapprove _of the men’s open-chested shirts._

“Oh? Is that you, Victor?”

Victor turned around to be greeted by the glistening pectorals of Christophe Giacometti. “Chris! I didn’t know you would be here.”

“Of course I would be, darling. Where else would I be able to show off my skills of seduction, hm?”

“Of course.”

“So, what brings you here today? You’re not usually the type to watch other dances.”

Victor laughed drily. “Yakov sent me. He wanted me to get off my lazy ass and find inspiration—his words, not mine.”

“Ooh, then watch me closely,” Christophe winked. “Oh, is that Yuuri over there?” He waved for a shorter, dark-haired man to come over. This Yuuri parted with whoever he was talking to and walked towards Victor and Christophe with who Victor assumed was his follow. “Mr. Yuuri and Lady Yuuko! Let me introduce you to someone.”

“Christophe,” Yuuri smiled brightly. The woman standing next to him did the same before coolly looking in Victor’s direction. 

Christophe clapped his hands together, prompting Yuuri to face Victor, docile eyes widening upon eye contact. Blushing, the Asian man bowed his head down. _Cute_ , Victor thought. 

“Victor, this is Yuuri Katsuki and Yuuko Nishigori, one of the best pairs of Latin dancers in the world. Yuuri and Yuuko, this is Victor Nikiforov, one half of the world champion pair in standard.” 

Yuuko offers a “how do you do,” nudging her partner to do the same. 

“Ah, n-nice to meet you,” Yuuri stammered. “I-I’m a huge fan of yours! Please do me the honor of autographing something for me later; I don’t have anything on me right now!”


End file.
